Rabbit farmers brainstorm over future of the industry

LEADERS of rabbit farmers in Zimbabwe will gather in Masvingo in September to plot the future of the fastest growing farming subsector in the country, a top industry official has said.

In a newsletter, Zimbabwe Commercial Rabbit Breeders Association (Zicorba) vice-president Abigail Japajapa revealed that the Masvingo gathering is expected to come up with a roadmap for the country’s cuniculture sector.

“We have just had our elections and a new executive has been installed. It is time for the new leadership to reflect on where we are coming from and where we ought to be going as an industry. We are excited to be partaking in this process,” she said.

“Since the formation of Zicorba three years ago, there has been a massive influx of farmers venturing in rabbit production. Consequently, there has been a sharp rise in demand for rabbit meat on the domestic market, which farmers are failing to meet. We need to close this gap.

“Among other things, the Masvingo retreat will examine ways to ramp up production to meet the insatiable demand on the local market and beyond. It is our conviction that this is the opportune time to devise strategies to take the Zimbabwe rabbit farming subsector to another level,” Japajapa said.

“We see rabbit farming as one of the catalysts for reviving our agriculture industry, through employment creation among women and youth, the general improvement of the livelihoods of our people and the generation of the much-needed foreign currency, especially given a growing interest by a number of countries to import rabbit meat from Zimbabwe,” she said.

Officials from the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe recently visited the country’s sole rabbit abattoir and meat hub in Harare, and expressed interest in facilitating exports of rabbit meat to China, which is the largest consumer of the product in the world.

China consumes one million tonnes of rabbit meat annually.

Japajapa said demand for rabbit meat on the domestic market had increased from just under a tonne per month about three years ago to more than 10 tonnes per month currently.

More than one million tonnes of rabbit meat are consumed worldwide per year, accounting for about US$7,5 billion in revenue.-newsday